Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

Shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the twenty-seven research firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Fifteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eleven have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $77.73.

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Robert W. Baird lowered Edwards Lifesciences from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $102.00 to $70.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $76.00 to $70.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Edwards Lifesciences from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $105.00 to $72.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $103.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded Edwards Lifesciences from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st.

Edwards Lifesciences Stock Performance

NYSE:EW opened at $64.54 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $66.64 and its 200-day moving average is $80.91. Edwards Lifesciences has a 1-year low of $58.93 and a 1-year high of $96.12. The company has a current ratio of 3.71, a quick ratio of 2.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The stock has a market cap of $38.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 1.13.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The medical research company reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.65 billion. Edwards Lifesciences had a net margin of 24.55% and a return on equity of 22.35%. The company’s revenue was up 6.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.66 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Edwards Lifesciences will post 2.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Daveen Chopra sold 1,250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.95, for a total transaction of $87,437.50. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 29,333 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,051,843.35. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.29, for a total value of $466,450.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 46,936 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,378,659.44. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Daveen Chopra sold 1,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.95, for a total transaction of $87,437.50. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 29,333 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,051,843.35. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 16,250 shares of company stock worth $1,218,138. 1.29% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Edwards Lifesciences

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Crewe Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Edwards Lifesciences during the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. First Community Trust NA purchased a new stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences in the 2nd quarter valued at $29,000. Riverview Trust Co purchased a new position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences in the first quarter worth about $34,000. Webster Bank N. A. purchased a new position in Edwards Lifesciences in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $39,000. Finally, Peoples Bank KS bought a new stake in Edwards Lifesciences during the 3rd quarter valued at $40,000. Institutional investors own 79.46% of the company’s stock.

Edwards Lifesciences Company Profile

Edwards Lifesciences Corporation provides products and technologies for structural heart disease and critical care monitoring in the United States, Europe, Japan, and internationally. It offers transcatheter heart valve replacement products for the minimally invasive replacement of aortic heart valves under the Edwards SAPIEN family of valves system; and transcatheter heart valve repair and replacement products to treat mitral and tricuspid valve diseases under the PASCAL PRECISION and Cardioband names.